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Dessert

Russian Cream

A custard dessert made with eggs, milk, gelatin, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Russian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatine in ½ cup of tepid water for 1 hour.

  2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  3. Beat the yolks separately.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, combine the yolks, gelatine, milk, and sugar.

  2. Heat the mixture until it reaches boiling point, but do not boil.

  3. Remove the mixture from heat.

  4. Stir in the vanilla and beaten egg whites.

Set and serve

  1. Wet a mold.

  2. Pour the mixture into the mold.

  3. Set in a cool place to firm, preferably overnight.

  4. Before serving, pour off any excess water not absorbed by the gelatine.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites trap air for lightness, and yolks add richness and set the custard.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and creamy body of the dessert.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the flavour of the eggs and milk.
Vanilla essence
Adds aroma and a warm, rounded flavour.

The step that matters

Heat the custard without boiling. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently, but boiling can curdle them and weaken the custard's smooth texture. Stopping at boiling point protects it.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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